AI Consulting · houdini
Use AI. Without confidential data leaving your organisation.
houdini makes AI safe to use for law firms, tax advisers, medical practices and businesses. Names, diagnoses, account numbers and passwords are automatically made unrecognisable before sending and put back into the answer – in chat as well as with AI agents.
The problem
AI saves time – with real cases, too.
AI saves time when drafting letters, summarising case files and answering enquiries. But anyone who works with real cases works with sensitive data: medical findings, case numbers, social security numbers, bank details.
This data must not simply go to a cloud service. That is why many practices and law firms do without AI altogether or laboriously work with anonymised copies.
The solution
houdini: the privacy filter that runs on your premises.
houdini sits between your staff and the AI model – regardless of which provider you use. Personal data is replaced by placeholders before a request leaves your organisation. For example, the AI only sees ⟦PER_7a3c⟧ instead of “Maria Huber”.
Nothing changes for your team: they write and read real names. The AI still remains fully capable, because the same name always gets the same placeholder.
Programs that use an AI interface – AI assistants, your own software or existing agents – are simply switched over to houdini; nothing else changes.
How it works
Four steps – and your team doesn’t notice a thing.
You ask your question
Just as usual, with real names and data.
houdini detects sensitive data
Names, diagnoses, account numbers, passwords and more. Rules, a detection model and a local language model acting as a checker work together on your own hardware.
Only placeholders go out
Each value always gets the same placeholder, stored encrypted on your side. The AI model only receives the cleaned-up text.
The answer comes back with real names
houdini puts the values back in live while the answer appears – and before an agent carries out a step.
Your benefits
Safe for your data. Convenient for your team.
Confidential data stays in-house
Everything that sees plain text runs on your own hardware – or, if you prefer, in our data centre in Vienna. Apart from the AI provider of your choice, no cloud service is involved – and that provider only receives the cleaned-up text.
Nothing changes for your team
Your staff work with real names as usual. They never see the placeholders.
The AI stays useful
The AI can still tell people, companies and documents apart and recognise connections.
Documents and images, too
PDFs, scans, Office files, emails including attachments, and images are converted into text on site and cleaned up in the same way – instead of going out as a file.
Passwords and keys, too
Passwords, API keys and access tokens are detected and replaced. They are not stored anywhere, only held for that one request.
When in doubt, it blocks
If houdini cannot fully check a request, it does not go out. Nothing leaves your organisation half-checked.
Proven quality
What houdini marks as sensitive is correct.
What the detection, combining rules and an AI model, marks as sensitive is correct 99 % of the time. Overall, houdini found over 98 % of all personal data in testing. For passwords and keys: 0 false alarms across 60 finds.
A built-in evaluation also measures detection on your own texts.
Modular system
One core and three modules – you choose what you need.
The core anonymises every request to the AI model and is always included. Chat, agents and company knowledge are added individually and can be combined – up to the full set-up, in which your team selects an agent in the chat that searches the company knowledge.
- Included in every package and usable on its own
- Works with common AI models and with programs that use their interfaces – such as AI assistants, your own software or agents
- Separate API keys per department or agent: costs and limits visible separately
- Ready-made chat page: history, search, file upload including emails and Office files
- Sealed off: no internet access, no outbound web search, no sharing via link
- With the Entra groups extension: sign-in with your Microsoft account, permissions and costs per department
- Agents write emails, create tickets, look up data – via Teams, on a schedule or in the chat
- The houdini gatekeeper only lets each agent go where it is allowed to; anything unknown is rejected
- The AI provider’s real API key is never stored on the agent’s machine
- Agents search file shares, shared Microsoft 365 mailboxes and SQL Server databases
- Search by words and by meaning: “heating” also finds the quote for the “heat pump”
- Each agent only sees the sources released to it; the search index is encrypted
What houdini detects
All the main types of sensitive data – in German and English.
Your own client and contact lists can be imported; these names are recognised from their first mention. Custom patterns for in-house numbers are possible, and product or system names that should remain readable go on an allow list.
Connections remain visible: the person “Mischek” and the company “Mischek Haustechnik GmbH” share one placeholder ID; legal forms, professions and titles remain readable.
- Names of people
- Companies and practices
- Diagnoses and medication
- Passwords and access keys (new)
- Case numbers
- Policy and tax numbers
- ID document numbers
- Social security numbers
- IBANs from all EU countries
- Credit and debit cards
- VAT and company register numbers
- Email, phone, fax
- Dates of birth
- Addresses
- Logins
- Vehicle registration numbers
- and more
Security
Closed when in doubt. Encrypted. Offline.
- If a check fails, the request is rejected – nothing goes out half-checked.
- Placeholder storage and API keys are encrypted (AES-256-GCM); a stolen disk or backup is worthless.
- Passwords are not stored anywhere, only held for the duration of their request.
- Each answer only gets back the values from its own request – the storage cannot be queried.
- Logs contain no personal data.
- All AI models run offline on your premises; apart from the chosen AI provider, no cloud service is involved.
For your IT
Containers on your hardware, updates with one click.
houdini runs as a container package in your network, on request in hardened containers without special privileges. During set-up, a script generates fresh keys for your installation; the AI models are downloaded once and then run without internet access. Updates are a matter of “pull and redeploy”, and your data is retained.
A graphics card makes detection much faster: 60 pages of new text in around one minute. Text that has already been checked costs no time, and answers are passed through without delay.
Deployment options
One device, your own servers or our data centre.
All three options offer the same protection: the AI provider only receives cleaned-up text, and agents stay locked in. They differ in where houdini runs and who takes care of operating it.
Frequently asked questions
Good to know.
Does my data go to the cloud?
No, not in plain text. Detection, document processing and search run on your premises or, with the cloud installation, in your sealed-off environment in our data centre in Vienna. The AI provider only receives text in which sensitive data has been replaced by placeholders.
Does houdini help with data protection under the GDPR?
houdini ensures that personal data does not leave your organisation in plain text. How this fits into your data protection concept is something we clarify together in a consultation.
Does my team have to learn anything new?
No. Your staff work with real names and never see the placeholders.
What hardware do I need?
For the server installation, at least a Linux VM with 8 GB of RAM; we recommend 16 GB and a separate computer with a graphics card (32 GB of graphics memory) for the AI models. A single-device version for small businesses is in trial. We advise you on what suits your scale.
Can I start small and expand later?
Yes. The core is always included; chat, agents and company knowledge are added as separate modules – without reinstalling. Placeholders, history and settings are retained.
What happens to passwords in a request?
houdini detects passwords, API keys and access tokens and replaces them before sending. They are not stored, only held for that one request. An agent still gets the real value back for its step.
Can a manipulated agent cause damage?
The houdini gatekeeper limits where an agent can connect to: each agent only reaches approved addresses, internal addresses in the company network are blocked, and anything unknown is rejected and flagged for review.
How much does houdini cost?
That depends on the scope – we will be happy to prepare a quote for you.
Let’s talk about how you use AI.
IT United looks after businesses, law firms and medical practices in Vienna and the surrounding area. In a short conversation, we clarify how houdini fits into your practice or firm.